Posts tagged ‘Bane’

Greg Rucka, Sergio Cariello and Mark Buckingham bring the two-part Shellgame storyline to a close in Detective 740 (Jan. 00), as No Man’s Land draws to a close.

The issue, which scans over a large group of people and places, begins with Oracle musing over Lex Luthor’s reconstruction of Gotham, and how he has played the media to make himself the golden boy hero of the city.

Batman and Robin have been monitoring Pettit and the Huntress. Their region has held off everyone, including all aid, and the people are starting to flee. Pettit demands that no one be allowed to leave, as it will weaken them. The Huntress tries to reason with him, but fails.

Luthor gets frustrated at how his equipment and crews keep getting sabotaged and killed by the Joker, and enlists Bane to guard them. The Joker brings Harley Quinn to help him, but Bane also has Mercy at his side, and fends the Joker off.

We even catch up with good old Dr. Simpson Flanders, back on tv, hawking his new book about life in No Man’s Land.

With Luthor’s rebuilding indicating a power shift in Gotham, the Penguin makes his move, with a large group of men, to demand his cut of the action. Mercy takes out the Penguin’s men without even breaking a sweat. Luthor gives the Penguin nothing but his own life.

The issue has lots of ominous foreboding, but ends on a happy note, as Lucius Fox takes the airwaves to announce that the government has rescinded the No Man’s Land proclamation, and Gotham is open again.

No Man’s Land moves towards its conclusion with Detective 738 (Nov. 99), in a story by Chuck Dixon, with art by Mat Broome and Sean Parsons. It’s the conclusion of a two-part story. Are you surprised it’s a concluding half? By now, you should be used to it.

Bane penetrates into the heart of the city – the hall of records. He sets off a (very) low-grade nuke, which destroys the building and renders the land it is on impossible to build on.

Two-Face also finds himself in trouble, with the Penguin’s men leading an assault against him. Batman and Robin watch both situations unfold. Robin wonders why Batman does not act to stop Bane. Batman is more interested in who might be giving Bane the orders to destroy the Hall of Records. They leave Bane to his bomb, and save Two-Face.

Larry Hama, Mike Deodato, Jr and Sean Parsons bring Bane back to Gotham in the No Man’s Land story in Detective 736 (Sept. 99).

It’s a pretty ballsy entrance, befitting of Bane. He rams a car carrier trailer into the barricade on the bridge, and then uses it as a ramp for a second truck, which leaps over the broken part, landing in Gotham.

There is a surprising cameo in the story, by Sister Agnes. Batman makes reference to their previous meeting, in the Joker’s Five-Way Revenge, a classic story from the early 70s.

Batman discovers that Bane has returned, and tries to take him down right away, hoping to nip any plans he may have before they can start.

Bane has bigger fish to fry than another bout with Batman. He tells Batman he has planted a bomb in the church of Sister Agnes, and when Batman heads to defuse it, Bane goes off on his merry way.

This is one of the weaker No Man’s Land stories. It achieves its goal, but still feels like there could have been more to it.

Detective 735 (Aug. 99) sees Greg Rucka, Dan Jurgens and Bill Siekiewicz bring a three-part Poison Ivy/Clayface story to a resolution, part of No Man’s Land.

Batman is busy battling Basil Karlo, who emerged from the earth with even greater powers than before. Poison Ivy, trapped by Clayface, was freed at the end of the last part of the story, and takes quick vengeance on Karlo.

She uses his body as fertilizer, basically, completely encasing him in plant life. Batman is grateful, largely because she did not kill him.

Intercut with this, James Gordon sends Renee Montoya to Two-Face, to inform him that the peace deal between them has ended. Two-Face’s attempted hit on Gordon nullified the deal, in his eyes.

Bane also appears, as a mysterious woman offers him a big payment on behalf of her even more mysterious boss, for Bane to return to Gotham.

Two-Face was none too pleased with Gordon calling off their deal. It was a peace pact with Two-Face, how could you expect not to be betrayed? Two-Face is now holding Renee Montoya, and her family, as hostages against any action by Gordon or the police.

Back in the park, Batman and Robin discover that the discs they went in to retrieve had been destroyed by Ivy long before. With Ivy sheltering many of Gotham’s abandoned children, Batman has little option but to cede her Robinson Park, as long as the children are kept fed and safe.

The action moves back to Gotham in Detective 701 (Sept. 96), chapter 6 of Legacy, by Dixon, Nolan and Hanna.

Oracle oversees the search for Ra’s Al Ghul and Talia, with Huntress being included, alongside Robin and Nightwing, for the first time.

Batman comes face to face with Bane, and the final plague, and they fight. And fight and fight and fight some more. It is the first time the two have faced each other since Bane broke Bruce Wayne’s back, but it does go on.

Batman wins, but it’s a hollow victory as the water takes Bane’s body away on a raft.

Contagion had been a perfect crossover series within the Batman universe. It tied together all the books and heroes into a single, complex tale. It’s scope varied from the world of Babylon Towers, to the chaos in Gotham, to the situation in the far north. Robin’s bout with the Clench was scary and disturbing.

Legacy probably looked good on paper. The Clench is made more deadly than it appeared, the scope of the story is now global, and Ra’s Al Ghul puts a face and goal onto the spread of the disease. In reality, it was bloated, over-long, and extremely unfulfilling.

Detective 700 (Aug. 96), by Dixon, Nolan and Hanna, opens as Batman discovers that Ra’s Al Ghul, with Talia in tow, as well as a new Ubu, is the mastermind behind the Clench.

I do really love the idea, and visual, of the ancient Wheel of Plagues, which Al Ghul has used to derive his deadly diseases. He leaves Batman and Robin deep in the pit, to be killed. Of course they are not, and spend much of this double-sized issue escaping.

So let’s just cut to the chase. Nightwing has tracked down Ra’s, and battled him, unsuccessfully. Ra’s is about to deliver the killing stroke when Batman and Robin burst in. Ra’s and Talia flee, and Batman knows he has to travel the world to stop all their plague releases.

Ubu is revealed to be Bane, who has been promised by Ra’s to Talia, as long as he helps bring about the massive plague release. Talia is less than thrilled about this, but no one cares about her views.

The story ends on Catwoman, trapped in a cell down with the Wheel of Plagues, being flooded out.

Knightfall has its penultimate chapter in Detective 666 (Sept. 93), by Dixon, Nolan and Hanna.

Commissioner Gordon has his suspicions confirmed, that someone new is in the Batman costume, in a nicely done scene. Gordon’s proof is simply that Batman did not vanish in the middle of the conversation, waiting to see if Gordon had anything more to say.

Bird, Trogg and Zombie gets busted out of prison, and head for Bane, who they think was behind the breakout. In fact, it was one of Jean-Paul’s more intelligent moves, as he expected the henchmen to act exactly as they did.

So it’s rematch between Batman and Bane, but with a new Batman. Jean-Paul has added some ridiculous hi-tech gloves to the outfit, but still fails to take down Bane.